Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Author: Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) PROSECUTOR APPEALS FOR CHANGE IN METH LAWS Suspects Now Must Be Caught With All Elements FRANKFORT, Ky. - A prosecutor appealed to lawmakers yesterday to make it easier to take methamphetamine makers to court and curb what she described as an increasingly sophisticated and violent business. Gale Cook, commonwealth's attorney for Calloway and Marshall counties, wants the legislature to resolve a dilemma that the Kentucky Supreme Court created for prosecutors last year. The court ruled in June that a suspect must be caught with all - not just some - ingredients needed for the drug. "Meth" cases were already problematic for law-enforcement officials because the drug is made with legal ingredients and equipment, such as cold tablets and disposable batteries. Compounding the problem for prosecutors is that authorities don't always find all the ingredients or equipment, Cook said. She cited a Marshall County case in which authorities uncovered a meth lab but didn't find a key component - the fertilizer anhydrous ammonia. The fertilizer had been stored in a freezer. It was not there when police opened the freezer, although "it almost knocked them over from the odor," said Cook, president of the state commonwealth's attorneys association. But without the fertilizer, prosecutors couldn't press charges for meth manufacturing under the court ruling, she said. "If the circuit judges believe that ... you have to have every item, it's got to be bubbling and smoke coming out of the smokers, that's an issue that prosecutors face," Cook told the House Judiciary Committee. The panel heard testimony but took no vote on a proposal that amounted to a byproduct of multiple meth bills. It says possession of the necessary equipment and at least two ingredients, or precursors, can be used as evidence of an intent to manufacture meth. Kentucky law already forbids possession of a precursor with intent to manufacture meth. The new legislation would set higher penalties - five to 10 years in prison for a first offense and 10 to 20 years for later offenses. W. Robert Lotz, representing the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said such a change would mean that possession of a precursor would carry a longer sentence than possession of the drug itself. He also said the enhanced penalty might deny diversion - an alternative to jail time - for some offenders at the "low end" of meth distribution. Another proposal would make it illegal to possess at least two of the necessary chemicals or two items of equipment with intent to manufacture meth. Violators would face long prison sentences. Lotz said intent "is a very nebulous concept," and innocent people could be arrested for possessing common household items. Cook said meth production has evolved into a lucrative business. She said a Calloway County man now jailed in Wisconsin is charged with possessing more than 12,000 pseudoephedrine pills, a meth ingredient. The man was to return to Murray with the ingredients and expected to make a $10,000 profit for one week's work, Cook said. Meth manufacturers serve as wholesale producers, who in turn use highly organized distributors employing "enforcers" to collect debts, sometimes through violence, she said. "With meth, we are moving into an area of organized crime that we have not had," Cook said. Rep. Paul Bather, D-Louisville, said the measure was just part of the equation in tackling a pernicious drug problem. Treatment for offenders is an important component that has been "shortchanged," he said. "Treatment is cheaper than incarceration, and it's more effective." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin